Versailles Palace in Paris... the model for many palaces in Europe.
~dk

Autumn in Oestrich-Winkel. :)
~dk

The indian party at the knight klub in oestrich (germany)... it's a small student-run club where events are held... this was a celebration by the Indian exchange students. :)
~dk

There is a large muslim community in Mannheim... chanced upon the Ramadan festival ... it's always heartwarming to see cultural integration abroad! :)
~dk

Mannheim has one of the top universities in Germany.
~dk

Visited Mannheim in a fast 2 hour expedition on the way back to Oestrich-Winkel
~dk

snapped a quick shot with a young fan beside me... :)
~dk

Ha... me in the celebratory atmosphere when Kaiserleuten knocked another goal into the net! Woo
~dk

Kaiserleuten versus a team from Bayer region... it was an amazing experience... my first every, which began with boarding a wrong train and finding out about the match from the enthusiastic and excited fans heading to the stadium... it was really exciting... 4-0!
~dk

Wanted to go to Heidelberg... but we ended up in Bad Munster (and eventually at Kaiserleuten to watch soccer)
~dk

A beautiful sunrise (on my way to the railway station)
~dk

It's really much more spacious than I had imagined. :)
~dk

a look at my room...
~dk

The beautiful sunset along the river rhine in Dusseldorf.
~dk

Usually on a weekend the shops are all closed... so the favorite hobby: window-shopping
~dk

i think the logo of dusseldorf city... heh.
~dk

During weekends, most shops are closed except for restaurants... i tried these crepes (yummy)
~dk

An abstraction and probably according to "dadaism" (i'm not sure)... it's of venus... the artists uses abstract and non related ideas in his works
~dk

Picaso's drawing of a lady... it's a bit of cubism in the art
~dk

Bismarck!
~dk

This looks interesting
~dk

Yup... the palace was called the Corps de Logis Schloss!
~dk

I think it is the first musuem of gardening!
~dk

Awesome
~dk

Beautiful Dusseldorf Palace (that focused a lot on symmetry)
~dk

Outside a palace in Dusseldorf
~dk

A bit similar to the ending scene of Ocean 11 right? By the way, one of my dream companies' german HQ is located in Dusseldorf. Notice the rainbow... beautiful!
~dk

In Dusseldorf (a city of many MNC hq!)
~dk

Reminds me of the movie YL and I watched before coming to Germany :)
~dk

posersssss :)
~dk

At the Ecke (so uptight right) ha...
~dk

Celebrating the Chinese National Day!
~dk

Berlin!!! the capital
~dk

This is where koblenz is located... dusseldorf is the regional capital
~dk

Bremen.. where a prof would be teaching
~dk

I am in this... hessen
~dk

The monument at the intersection of two rivers
~dk

One of the castles in koblenz... we tried visiting one of these but found it a bit far and too lazy to climb up..
~dk

Koblenz is further down the rhine from bonn and cologne... ha... :)
~dk

I am flying
~dk

Rathaus... Bonn used to be the seat of the Western German (and later Germany) government... before the capital moved to Berlin in late 1990s.
~dk

Max Friedrick Plague
~dk

MinoritenKirche in Bonn
~dk

Really lovely watching family and friends playing soccer... those little children.
~dk

Beautiful... autumn coming
~dk

An institute of the university
~dk

The cycling culture is everywhere
~dk

Me... almost knocked against the signboard while jumping up to photo...
~dk

The university campus
~dk

The Beethoven Festival
~dk

Me with Beethoven... :) He's great... even at his deathbed he was thinking of his music
~dk

After Cologne... on to Bonn (land of Beethoven)
~dk

Orchird in greenhouse in museum... it's really beautifully bloomed... but not charcoal as bottom
~dk

Trumpeter
~dk

Scarry
~dk

All those chocolate television advertisements...
~dk

How many have you tried?
~dk

Schokoladen
~dk

There was a greenhouse in the musuem... really stuffy inside... with double door-seal.
~dk

Dispensable chocolates... the dispenser is old... really!
~dk

Marketting of Chocolates is Art!
~dk

Lindt!!!
~dk

Truffle machine... those little sweet, sinful and lovely fluffy
~dk

picture of old lindt factory
~dk

Someday... you'll be eaten too?
~dk

These are lovely... hollow inside... they are made by spinning the chocolates in the moulds such that they stick to the mould and thereafter solidified... yummy
~dk

Fondue... chocolate... yes!
~dk

Amazed... I would be if I were so young and watching how those "melt in your mouth, not in your hands" things are manufactured.
~dk

Finally... Lindt Chocolates
~dk

Step 8: Bosch Robot (the wrappers)
~dk

Almost finished chocolates
~dk

Step 7: Moulding Machine
~dk

Step 5: Rolling Mill
~dk

Step 4: Mixer
~dk

Step 3: Cocoa mill
~dk

Step 2: Milling machine
~dk

Step 1: Roaster
~dk

1883 machine for making chocolates... history!!!
~dk

so what goes into chocolate...
~dk

In the Chocolat Musuem... still bumming around Cologne... didn't really know chocolate had such a big history... there are three key types of chocolates... btw, the museum is an intiative of sorts of Lindt... this is a boat on which choco seeds are transported.
~dk

Together with Jeff and Chenjun
~dk

Vitality-picture
~dk

The place we went up is called kolntriangle... koln = German name for Cologne... i didn't realize until i wanted to go there.
~dk

This building tastes delicious... yummy
~dk

Together... Cologne skyscape
~dk

At the top!
~dk

Ausschits... tower to watch cologne skyscape... it's really worthwhile... learnt of it from the lady at the violin shop... i enjoy talking to the locals.
~dk

There's Oktoberfest at Cologne too
~dk

Together for peace.
~dk

Coincidentally... i saw a plague like this which seemed like peaceboat...
~dk

helped a demonstrator... he was setting up displays to educate public on the violence of Israeli against Lebannon...
~dk

inside the cathedral
~dk

Procession...
~dk

Watched a procession outisde there.
~dk

Me... at the Cathedral... Gambate!
~dk

Japanese...
~dk

English
~dk

A monument in front of the cathedral with different language plagues.
~dk

Beautiful glass windows inside Cathedral
~dk

at the cologne cathedral which took hundreds of years to build i think... it's the longest building cathedral
~dk

Cologne fountain... trust me it is a strong smell there.
~dk

for those not knowing Cologne (that men use) comes from Cologne... this is 4711... where it all started in.
~dk

In Cologne... :) Violin... or something even better... i chanced upon this instrument while walking in a market street just behind the place where Cologne was first produced.
~dk

Hello Ta Ta

:)

Btw, the rhine river is considered a UNESCO heritage.
~dk

One of the many castles.
~dk

The cruise was beautiful and was a bit windy in the morning... it's particularly beautiful from Mainz to koblenz with the 60 castles or so in view... and from koblenz to cologne (i.e. koln)... it's less of an interesting sight... but it's still quite pleasaing.
~dk

Btw, this is Oestrich-Winkel... where I am living at.
~dk

Polst!!! *i.e. cheers*
~dk

Munich... the famous oktoberfest... fun... and for the city, the st. marien platz is the most memorable place... :) maybe I'll be back again.
~dk

this was the clock tower that has moving stuff at 5pm... and I bumped into shengzhi and her friends outside the place.
~dk

juliet (from romeo and juliet)... lovely... isn't she?
~dk

bonjour! :)
~dk

a talented basker
~dk

in munich, you would see lots of lions in the street. :) a brave gal! :) ha...
~dk

fan-fare eh? ha...
~dk

for yl!!! ^_^
~dk

This was the Oktoberfest... lots of fun in every tent... there's also the market place lining outside the tents... and of course the amusement park at the center of everything.
~dk

the beer was good but really expensive... about 8 euros for this mask of beer... potent.
~dk

I was off to Munich at the Oktoberfest... this was in the schottenhammel tent which is one of the most happening.
~dk

A bit on the brighter side... Oktoberfest!
~dk

After spending two days in berlin... visiting attractions on foot, train and the bicycle... I found the city having a unique flavor... the past is still lingering. I met an old man (who has grandchildren) who was with his wife... he told me he was visiting east berlin for the first time in his life, even though he lived in west berlin... but he left west berlin to go to western germany when he was a child... it is only today that he managed to visit places he could only dream off... behind the old berlin walls...
~dk

I felt this was meaningful.
~dk

The berlin wall...
~dk

Erich Ohser's cartoon drawing to circumvent nazi day censorship... and to express his thoughts.
~dk

a sample of how the berlin wall looked... it's like two high walls but separated by a gulf of land with trip flares and barbed wires... eerie.
~dk

Inside the jewish holocaust exhibition.
~dk

part 1.
~dk

Elections happening I think as there were a lot of these posters as well as one evening when some politician came to me and gave me some propaganda materials... ha...
~dk

The allee named after jesse-owens, a three-gold olympian in the 1936 olympics but not congratulated on racial grounds.
~dk

At the olympic stadium in berlin... it's one of the few nazi-day structure still existing... 1936 olympics
~dk

Saw a festival for children... :)really fun with all the activities happening!
~dk

Beary nice right.
~dk

btw... i saw a lot of bears... symbol of berlin.
~dk

at checkpoint charlie... one of the key gates of entry/exit between east/west berlin.
~dk

there was a few street displays of germany as the land of ideas... including a big adidas shoe
~dk

What a car!!!
~dk

A top-down perspective of reichstag
~dk

Woo... at the reichstag (or the bundestag... since the locals sometimes do not prefer to call the parliament reichstag as it reminds of hitler's domination times)... the windows of the reichstag building are made of windows as a symbol of transparency in germany.
~dk

At the berliner dom... grandeur
~dk

E=Mc2... right in musuem island in berlin... einstein is germna.
~dk

I'm crossing from west to east berlin.
~dk

At the place where hitler's bunker was... btw, during the bicycle tour, I met a nice gal from Munich who is air hostess.
~dk

Memorial of the Jewish Holocaust.
~dk

At brandenburg tor
~dk

A lot of fun as I joined a bicycle tour guided by the most enthusiastic of youths living in Berlin... my guide is from Manchester.
~dk

After leipzig... berlin!
~dk

Personally, I loved leipzig amongst the german cities... it's located in eastern germany and was under the socialist/communist rule before the fall of the wall... and it's from this lovely city that the revolution sparked and began.
~dk

One of the most talented quartet baskers I've seen in Germany... and the kids in front were all dancing to the music!
~dk

I saw orchestra practice by some youths in Thomaskirche
~dk

the mural some how tells a deep story at dewandhaus
~dk

this is part of the painting... actually a mural
~dk

painting in gewandhaus (where there is a famous orchestra)
~dk

Johann Sebastian Bach...
~dk

A glass window of Mendelssohn in the Thomas Kirche...
~dk

Universitat of leipzig
~dk

Ha... smirk on face shoot
~dk

A vague picture (no flash)... i got to watch the Thomas Kirche Boys Choir (which existed in Bach's time and was under his charge).
~dk

This is the ThomasKirche... where Bach was choir master before... and there is a memorial in the church for him... as well as the colored glass windows of bach...
~dk

Btw, bread is like my staple here... i've been buying a loaf every two days or something.
~dk

I saw a market at leipzig... :)beautiful flowers and I'm wondering if I should get a few for my room... ha...
~dk

you'll be greeted by these beautiful murals... in leipzig streets.
~dk

After italy, my next trip was to berlin... stopped by leipzig enroute there. I'm in mendelssohn haus in leipzig... ha. :) he's the composer who created my favorite violin concerto!
~dk

After venice... i wrapped up my italy vacation... and term officially started in germany (i've been here earlier for the administrative matters and deutsche-language class).
~dk

I miss peaceboat and the sea... :) btw, someday I hope to go out to sea... my powerboat license not expired. :)
~dk

I can attest to Venice being a lovely place... touristic (a lot of japanese tourists here)... but it'll be lovely to spend time with your loved one... and provided you have the cash to spend too.
~dk

I like this photo somehow... has a flavor... feels like i'm stalking or something... and it's narrow... dark man!
~dk

Guess what's the sandwitch... horse!
~dk

The many faces of baskers in Vernice
~dk

Found a store... selling all the old toys from europe/japan.
~dk

And in italy... you'll find cans with wrappers at the top... extra... but aesthetic
~dk

Ha... the polizia
~dk

It'll be much better if YL were here with me.
~dk

It's really crowded
~dk

Instead of buses, one has to take river buses...
~dk

Graffiti... it's common
~dk

At vernice... aka venezia I had the chance to experience the romantic atmosphere and the artistic mood... noteworthy, it is one of the most expensive cities in the world. :)
~dk

One day, i would be able to stop anything from falling... ha... super di kun! :)
~dk

Pisa.... a beautiful city just off florence... about an hour... pleasant and homely... :) nice food too... and a nice flea market... and of course, I found how the leaning tower slants.
~dk

Ate at a chinese restaurant... surprisingly one of the most affordable places to dine at.
~dk

I'm flying!!! :P at the background... is the leaning tower of pisa... it's really slanting... ha...
~dk

After Florence (which in italian is called as "firenze)... headed for pisa.
~dk

Florence... the beautiful, artistic, ancient city... you can find three statues of David (two of them copies of the original by Michaelangelo). ^_^ And there's academia and uffizi with the famous art works of artisits including leonardo da vinci... and not forgetting architecture and river... ^_^
~dk

And accademia... where you can find the original michallengelo's David sculpture
~dk

The cathedral
~dk

By the way, the cathedral is central of florence
~dk

Finally... in the beautiful city of florence in italy
~dk

Beautiful...
~dk

This is the balcony... wow!
~dk

A medieval town of montelfalco
~dk

Following the vatican and the roman empire visit... I travelled to Montefalco... which is close to perugia
~dk

Inside the vatican musuem... looking into the parking lot
~dk

The treasures in vatican musuem
~dk

Before I go to florence... i must put photos of vatican!
~dk

The jewish quarter
~dk

A visit to pinnochio workshop!
~dk

In front of the pantheon
~dk

The pantheon... an ancient place of worship which still holds religious services today.
~dk

And off I went to the pantheon... (this is a monument in front of the pantheon)
~dk

I walked through the less-travelled portions of palatine hill
~dk

Across the colossuem, was the palatine hill
~dk

And of course, constantine arches
~dk

Outside the colossuem
~dk

One of those qweky photos
~dk

Chopin, any?
~dk

There's a story about the capitoline wolf... of how the mythical creature had brought up two boys... one of them (i think romulus) later founded the city of rome.
~dk

Talking about art... there are the wonderful baskers in the streets... especially at piazzas (i.e. plaza)
~dk

It would have been great if I could better appreciate the art works... nonetheless, the capitoline musuem is definitely one of the wonderful places to be!
~dk

Btw... the colossus!!!
~dk

You'll be amazed by the art works and significance
~dk

Following my german language course... i shuttled to italy for a week of adventures... yes!
~dk

Frankfurt was beautiful... a pleasant break from the village lifestyle
~dk

Wedding bells... aint they lovely!
~dk

Remembering WWII... frankfurt
~dk

There's the provocative pictures on the walls of paulkirche... it's running around the walls (think of the place as being dome structured)
~dk

The paulkirche... a iconic place
~dk

The st. katherine church in frankfurt
~dk

at the romer, which is a central part of frankfurt... we saw a lovely concert
~dk

By the way, did you manage to catch the significance of the previous blog pic? the words "guan xi" was on the top left corner... did you "miss" that?... i think living abroad is tough... despite the freedom and all... at times I wonder if eventually my working life would put me away from singapore
~dk

i miss everyone
~dk

joy
~dk

The different exhibitions were on various teams... including "guan xi"
~dk

Some of the pictures were thought-provoking... as I'm typing... i'm feeling tired, feeling stranded...
~dk

The photos and art works were really beautiful... a passing thought as i typed these... i think i'm feeling more Chinese when i'm here.
~dk

Visited the MMK (art museum)... exhibiting on humanism in china!
~dk

Sometimes... it's really fun to be yourself... :) face-off!
~dk

The light-blue room... goethe house
~dk

The peking room... goethe house
~dk

The blue room... goethe house
~dk

At Goethe's house... a delicate and intricate ceiling design... notice the musical instruments... i'm truly amazed by musicality
~dk

Was at Goethe haus... Goethe is the most famous son of frankfurt... he's the one the "goethe-institute" is named after.
~dk

From kaufhof... a mix of the old and new... most of the buildings in frankfurt are actually rebuilt after the second world war ended in 1945.
~dk

Got up Kaufhof (which is quite a tall shopping complex) and had a better view of the city...
~dk

Ha... apfelwein, famous frankfurter style
~dk

Somehow... i seemed to always bump into festivals of some sort when I travel... ha... at frankfurt, we saw this beer carnival with international foodstuff too!
~dk

Frankfurt
~dk

The Commerzbank building (that tall thing sticking out) is one of the unique architectures in frankfurt.
~dk

Frankfurt city... :) notice the manhatten nickname it has...
~dk

And in germany... we often see wonderful people... the gentleman on the right for instance was one of the wonderful fellows who helped us navigate.
~dk

The benz building... btw, benz is based in stuttgart i think.
~dk

Frankfurt... it is the financial capital of germany of sorts... was there in one of the weekends.
~dk

This is Nicola, from france... very down-to-earth and pleasant company. :)
~dk

an international group... more than 100? I think so. :)
~dk

ha.. house parties
~dk

Oh... and there were parties... this is jackie, from Hk, a really fun guy to hang around with... :) cheers!
~dk

Off to train station... tschuss
~dk

Oh... there's a wein museum (wine musuem) in rudesheim too
~dk

I found the shop interesting... reminds me of those cartoons about nutcracker and fairy tales. By the way, Kathe Wohlfahrt is famous for its wood carvings and christmas collection. looking forward to coming back to see again
~dk

Finally... reached the base of the hill... off to explore!
~dk

This shot seemed a bit eerie... ah... raining!
~dk

Ha... egoistic self-photoshooting
~dk

That's me alright!
~dk

The view of the vineyards as I came down the seilbahn (a cable-car) was splendid!
~dk

I took the seilbahn down the hills... ha... lazy right...
~dk

there were interesting signs in the woods... ha... quite creepy as I was there alone.
~dk

there were interesting signs in the woods... but quite creepy as I was there alone... ha... :)
~dk

The rhine river's beauty illuminates as the evening sun sets...
~dk

This was up on the rittersaal... oh... and on the rhine river is about 60 (i think might be 30?) castles!
~dk

And the deers up in the hills... ha... but in enclosures.
~dk

Up in the hills... was this "temple" which is really quite neoclassical in architecture.
~dk

by the way... in germany, I saw quite a few dogs... and they are all well-groomed!
~dk

Need more examples?
~dk

example 2 of the views
~dk

example 1 of the view from above the hill at rudesheim... byy the way, the rhine river is considered to be a UNESCO heritage.
~dk

The monument up the hills of rudesheim... it's a symbol of the town/city... :) my goodness... the view from above is great!
~dk

This is a picture of a kid up in th emountains in a place called the zauberhohle... it's a dark stretch and used to have mirrors covering the walls... now it is simply a cave hole that one can enter on one side and leave through the other... i felt like a kid when i was inside that short 25m or 35m stretch.
~dk

It seems really crowded for a sunday evening at rudesheim... but in my side of the twon in O/W... it was largely quiet... shops don't usually open on sundays... :)
~dk

Btw... this area of the rhine is famous for its wine... especially the riesling... carl jung is one of the famous winery.
~dk

I was up in Rudesheim over my first weekend in Germany... tried some nice riesling wine (trocken) at the wine fest... was really happy to have a lovely landlord qwho drove me up to rudesheim... :)
~dk

This is the town of Rudesheim, which is about 20 minutes by train up the rhine river...
~dk

This was one of the earliest photos I've taken in germany. It was near the burgerhaus (or the govt building of some sorts). Really clear and green right... i love this place! ^_^
~dk

It's about 10 minutes for me to walk through this road to reach the schloss (which is one of the two campus) where I have my classes... btw, the green thingie along the two sides of the road is the vineyard... ha... sometimes I really feel the urge to go try some of the grapes there! :)
~dk

I live in Oestrich-Winkel... which is a small village-town within the state of hessen in Germany... there's not much going on here most of the times... but it's been busy lately... cos of the wine harvesting. Oh... and the monster trucks came to town recently... ha... :)
~dk

Apparently... there is a strong cycling culture in Germany... and I would really hope to one day cycle down the rhine... :) one day... ha...
~dk

Finally a chance to blog properly... ha... the previous photo is the European Business School where I"m currently on exchange at... it's been a fun two months that just whizzed past me... i'm trying to find myself during this period away from singapore... :) ha... this is a picture of the supermarket across my accom.
~dk

Hello everyone! it is dikun!
~dk

Exchange...

I'm now in oestrich-winkel... doing an exchange in European Business School (ebs). by the way, just in case you are wondering why it's "ebs" and not "EBS"... it's got to do with the school's history and how it was a component of a chain of universities in europe (There's ebs in London). Ok... life's been great. Doing some extra modules in school, beyond my required workload.
Thinking about my career paths.
I'm quite confused... what should I do.. :)
Missing Singapore, my family, YL... and friends... :)

Would start posting pictures online!